Twin Cities traffic: Miserable, again

Several cars find the ditch on Interstate 94/694 near Xerxes Avenue in Brooklyn Center on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012.

A day after the biggest snowstorm in nearly two years dumped almost a foot of snow on the Twin Cities, compacted snow and ice caused another day of massive commuter delays.

Drivers were greeted with another day of doubled and tripled drive times. Especially troubled routes Tuesday, Dec. 11, included:

Interstate 694 eastbound and westbound between I-35W and U.S. 169 due to spun-out cars near Xerxes Avenue; Minnesota 36 between I-35E and Minnesota 280; the northbound Crosstown interchange; Minnesota 100 along nearly its entire length; I-94 west into downtown St. Paul and U.S. 169 south between I-694 and I-394.

During the heaviest morning traffic, it took drivers 65 minutes to travel from White Bear Avenue to I-35W and 25 minutes to travel from I-35W northbound and 86th Street to I-94, according to MnDOT.

Metro buses also ran behind. About 40 percent of the 400 buses running on nearly 100 routes metro-wide were on schedule at 9:00 a.m., according to Metro Transit.

The average delay hovered around 15 minutes. Light rail ran on schedule.